According to a new study in California, obesity increases the risk that swine flu (H1N1) sufferers will be hospitalized. The study, conducted by a team from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), about 25 percent of individuals who have been hospitalized for complications related to swine flu are morbidly obese, even though the morbidly obese comprise less than 5 percent of the population. Experts believe that obesity is a risk factor as significant as pregnancy for developing complications from the pandemic strain of flu virus.
The CDPH team analyzed data from the 1,088 hospitalizations that occurred in California as a result of the flu outbreak this spring and summer. Half of those individuals who were hospitalized were obese and one-quarter of the group was morbidly obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher. Experts are not sure whether the increased risk for infection is a result of obesity itself or other obesity-related conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
(Source: www.latimes.com)
Labels: health, obesity
Posted By: Aspen Education Group
